Five Leaves

Casey's incessant desire for a cheese plate wore me down. Around 12:15 P.M. yesterday, I too needed a cheese plate.

After much debate, we decided to try out Five Leaves, a tiny little restaurant on the corner of Bedford and Lorimer. It's supposedly "Australian comfort food" (I'll take their word for it) with a nautical theme. Heath Ledger was planning this restaurant with some friends when he died. I feel like anywhere else in the world this would make a restaurant impossible to deal with. But Brooklynites, in all of their knowing nonchalance, keep it on the down low. Everyone knows, but it just doesn't matter.

The first thing that I noticed was the service. In fact, our waiter was so great that the people next to us wanted to leave him a note about it. The drink prices are reasonable; glasses of wine between $6 and $10 and cocktails for $9. Pretty standard. Casey sipped a pomegranate martini, while I had a glass of sparkling wine (delicious).

We shared the cheese plate, which the menu describes as "pont l'eveque, cashel bleu, humbolt fog, brin d’amour served with grilled fruit & nut bread". The waiter was kind enough to explain the different cheeses, which was an excellent gesture. The plate also included dates (which unfortunately are disgusting), a long strip of lavosh, and what I believe was celery root. All nice touches. The cheeses themselves were delicious, each one worth trying and savoring. While I prefer D.O.C.'s presentation and ability to customize, Five Leaves turns out a pretty solid cheese plate! I'd like to come back here for lunch - the grilled vegetable sandwich sounds delicious.